


the ghosts we left behind (and the ones left in us)

by necromantrix



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, Psychological Horror, Survival Horror, Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:47:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24396790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necromantrix/pseuds/necromantrix
Summary: STEM never really lets you go. Or maybe it’s that it never really leaves you. I don’t know which it is. Maybe it’s both, and it’s using the echoes left within me to call me home.I’m going back. But this time I’m not leaving it standing.Seven years after MOBIUS was supposedly taken down, something with the same name and what appear to be the same goals has risen from its ashes. Sebastian doesn't want to get involved again, but there's a move to take them down. Lily takes up the mantle behind her father’s back (and she is far from alone).
Kudos: 3





	the ghosts we left behind (and the ones left in us)

**Author's Note:**

> **this is a repost of a deleted fic** that i didn't think i'd be going back to, but i've been bitten by the tew bug again and love many of the concepts i have planned and want to commit to writing this. i edited this first chapter a bit to be more compliant with some ideas i have set out. comments appreciated to help me stay motivated!
> 
> some notes: this is set seven years after the events of tew2, so lily is 17. she's been dealing with the trauma of her experiences the entire time, but this fic is going to delve into those. (i set it so late after to explain the dust in that teaser scene, as well as so she'd be old and strong enough to be a believable protagonist in this sort of situation.) stefano did survive (but i'm running with a headcanon/hypothetical tew2 rewrite my dear friend thought of where he changes sides once learning theodore betrayed him). some other characters are going to make appearances too, but you'll just have to wait for those reveals, and they've been omitted from tags to not spoil anything.
> 
> you can follow me on twitter at [@planthorror](https://twitter.com/planthorror) to see me ramble about video games and toss around fic ideas.

“MOBIUS is on the move again.”

“No.” Almost as soon as the conversation has started, Sebastian is making a move to end it. It’s not _hesitation_ in his voice as much as it is a firm shut-down of whatever Kidman’s going to be saying next.

“What?”

“No. I’m not getting involved in this again—for my sake, for—for Lily’s sake. I can’t start with this shit again.”

“Sebastian—" Lily can’t see what’s happening from where she’s standing at the top of the staircase out of sight, but there’s an exhausted softness in Kidman’s tone. She recognizes it.

“I’m sorry, Juli. We’re safe now. Do you know how nice the last few years have been? Without being afraid?”

Kidman sighs, and Lily can practically feel her sympathy. “I know, and you have every right to not want to get involved again. But after everything they’ve done, we have a chance here, Sebastian. Something real. More than we ever have before.”

Her father’s hesitation is palpable, and she knows him well enough to know that he’s shaking his head as he thinks and inevitably reaches a conclusion. “I’m sorry. I really am. But I can’t drag us into this again.” MOBIUS is supposed to be gone. They were supposed to have been destroyed seven years ago. The chips in the brains of what seemed to be in all of their members were fried, leaving most operatives dead. But maybe... maybe the higher-ups were exempt. That's a weak point, after all, and not having one would be the safer bet. Or maybe someone lower-ranking came into the power vacuum that continued to exist behind, above, and below the law. 

No matter the catalyst, they must have started up again in the last seven years, and that thought is terrifying.

There’s a moment of silence, something tense and somber, and then Lily hears Kidman standing. “All right. I’m sorry for bothering you. I thought maybe you’d want to see this through to the end.” Lily can hear as her footsteps start making their way to the door, but then that sound is quickly drowned out by how quickly Sebastian stands up.

“Don’t start with that bullshit—”

“I meant what I said, Sebastian. You won’t get me to take it back. I thought you would want to see this through, but you don’t. That’s fine. But that’s why I came to you. We’ll just have to find another way.” She doesn’t explain who _we_ is, and Sebastian doesn’t ask. She opens the door, and it swings shut behind her as she leaves.

Lily stands with her back pressed against the wall, the sound of her pulse echoing in her ears. MOBIUS is on the move again.

She's drawn back, unwillingly, to the five years spent in their custody. It's five years she's coping well with, but it's five years she's been forced _to_ cope with. MOBIUS had her for so many years of her life—still more than a quarter of it at seventeen—and some part of her, tucked away beneath the loving, empathetic parts of her, is a desire to take them down; it’s both a desire for vengeance, and a desire to protect. Who knows if there are other girls like her, ones who have been taken and held for years? Ones who don't have Sebastian Castellanos to track them down and free them.

Ones who haven't been rescued. Ones who won't be rescued. Ones who weren’t rescued before it was too late.

Lily makes a choice in that moment, and it's a reckless one.

\---

Despite making the choice so quickly, it weighs on her for a week. Doubts circle her mind, and she wonders if she could even be of any actual help, or if Kidman would even let her—

She chews on her thumbnail without really chewing on it. It’s a habit she’s trying to break, but this more-or-less regular hangout with Kidman is about to be bookended by something sudden, and something that might backfire terribly. Lily hopes it doesn’t, and she opens her mouth before she can stop herself.

“I want to help.”

“What are you talking about?"

It's been a week since she overheard the conversation between Kidman and her dad, and she's been preparing for this moment ever since. Truth be told, she's been preparing for most of her life since her rescue from STEM—self-defense classes that her dad knows about, offensive fighting classes that he doesn't. Practicing ciphers and codes and learning—always learning—what she can. Anything at all she thinks would be helpful in case the worst would come to pass—like it has now.

“I want to help take MOBIUS down, even if dad won’t.”

Kidman stares at her, and it's impossible for Lily to read her expression. There's something soft and concerned in her eyes, but there's something else there, hidden behind those familiar, lavender eyes. (Maybe it's her ability to manipulate showing through, and how she wants MOBIUS taken down more than she cares what Sebastian thinks about getting Lily involved. But Lily isn't sure and has no way of being sure. She certainly won’t ask.)

The silence weighs on her like a wet blanket, and Lily lowers her hands into her lap to pick at her nails instead.

"I should say no," Kidman finally says with a heavy sigh. Lily looks over at her, her light blue eyes wide. There’s another beat of silence, her lips pressed into a thin line, and then she gives a small shake of her head as if to dispel any final doubts. "But okay. You're your parents' daughter after all; there's really no telling you 'no.' You'll be safe. We have a plan." There's the _we_ again, and Kidman's expression turns almost regretful as Lily asks who _we_ is.

\---

"You two are going in alone," Kidman tells Lily and Stefano, "but you won't be alone for long." Her gaze flicks to Lily in particular. "Joseph Oda is inside. We've located him, although maintaining contact has been… difficult."

Lily inhales a bit sharply as her heart rate surges. She doesn't remember him, but she knows _of_ him. Jo. _Uncle Jo._ Her father's best friend and partner in the KCPD. He went missing a few years after she did, also connected to MOBIUS somehow. That’s all she’s gleaned from her dad and from a few curious questions to Kidman that got the shortest possible answers over the years.

"So, this Joseph," Stefano begins, waving a hand out to his side, "he's an ally against MOBIUS. How do we find him?" Talking with his hands is one of the most notable things about his behavior; well, that, and the way he encourages Lily to continue pursuing art whenever they cross paths. It’s not often, but it’s also far from surprising when it happens.

Kidman looks at him again, whatever emotion she had when looking at Lily slipping from her face until she's giving him not much more than a blank stare. It's obvious to Lily, both through just watching Kidman's interactions with him as well as from her description of the plan, that she doesn't care much for him.

 _He's insurance,_ she'd said. _You know he tries to stay on your father's good side._ Lily does. It's sort of strange, but also oddly endearing. _He won't let anything happen to you. It also helps that he harbors a personal grudge against MOBIUS like the rest of us. He'll be useful—he's been useful._

"You’ll be entered into STEM near his last known location."

STEM. Despite everything—despite what should have been its destruction—it’s still standing. There must have been a backup of sorts, something that couldn't be so easily destroyed once a Core was removed— _or if one self-destructed_. An echo of what it was seven years ago—a remnant, a copy. It's almost impossible to tell the difference on a technical level.

"As for the next steps, Joseph will brief you, and I'll be there every step of the way. As a friendly voice, at least." Kidman offers something that’s a faint echo of a smile, her more serious working demeanor sliding easily over the warmth of someone who had been aunt-like for seven years.

Lily clenches her fists to stop her hands from shaking. Nerves. Anxiety. She times her breathing and makes a mental list of things her dad would hate about this situation: She's going against MOBIUS. She's going into STEM again. She's putting her life more or less into Stefano's hands. Her dad isn’t here. She's doing it all behind his back.

It’s a really grim list once she spells it all out for herself, and she grimaces.

"I should also warn you that STEM's... changed," Kidman continues, pulling Lily out of her internal thoughts. "I don't know how to explain it; I've never been inside. But it's different, according to what I've been told. After our attempt to take it down, it's... trying to protect itself. That's all I feel qualified to say."

Finally, Lily and Stefano exchange a glance, and neither of them wants to read the other's expression.

But it's too late to back out now, they both know, and so they don't. They don’t want to, truthfully; there’s a personal grudge harbored within both of them, and this may be the only chance they have to act on it. 

Instead, they allow themselves to be secured and connected to the network that makes up STEM, moving wordlessly as they’re both instructed and guided by someone they’ve never seen before, but clearly is part of this plan with Kidman. There’s nothing they can say. There’s nothing _to_ say as their individual fears and doubts eat at them.

Kidman stands between them, one of her hands lifting to rest on the edge of the immersion bath Lily is in. "It's no longer Union in there. It's something else—something different. STEM’s been operating without a Core for too long, and now it's become something entirely its own." It's a final warning from Kidman. "Be careful in there. Please." She only looks at Lily as she makes this final request, and Lily swallows thickly.

She nods her understanding, and then the world fades away.

\---

Lily hardly remembers entering STEM the first time. 

Stefano _does_ remember.

This is different, and yet so terribly familiar. Entering STEM is free falling and G-forces and an almost drunken swirl of your mind as the world goes off-kilter around you. It's darkness and drowning and breathing in too much oxygen—but also not enough. It's every contradictory feeling as your mind is drawn into itself and then even further—into something that's not just you, but is every person who's ever been inside STEM, and then back into yourself inside of that.

And then it's nothing but sensationless blackness as shoes touch water that isn't wet at the outskirts, in the barrier between STEM and one’s own mind. No temperature. No wind. No humidity. Nothing. Just void.

"That was more unpleasant than I remembered," Stefano says as he gets his bearings, and he glances at Lily. Her eyes are closed for the moment, but she opens them to look at him. There’s an eerie calm to her, and not just in how he sees her expression; she feels it too, a sort of strange peace.

She doesn't respond to the question, instead positing one of her own.

"Does STEM haunt you?" she asks. "Out there, I mean." There's something in her eyes that has him unable to ignore her question—they look just as haunted as she feels now that she's back, and she's suddenly wondering if this was a bad idea all along.

They haven't even set foot inside STEM proper, and already she knows something is wrong. Something’s creeping in beneath the familiar peace of her mind being reunited with… whatever STEM is. There’s a resistance here that wasn’t there last time.

"Yes. But I wonder if it's different for you, having been the Core." There are dreams, sure, and nightmares too; there are bleeding thoughts at the edges of his mind on some days that he knows were never truly his. But he was always _himself_ within STEM, while the Core was always supposed to be something bigger, something more. 

She thinks about that with a quiet hum. "Maybe," she muses distantly, turning her face to the light in the darkness. She takes a breath and doesn't say anything else as she sets off towards it. Stefano has no real choice but to follow.

The light is everything as they step into it, and then it's gone like it was never there, leaving them with a view of what STEM has become. 

Kidman was right when she said it was different. Things are all wrong now. While previously Union was a cohesively built place, obviously built up as a legitimate town, now things are.... _wrong_ . There are conflicting architecture styles, but not just between neighboring buildings— _within_ individual buildings, too. Columns that don't match porch styles, roofs that don't match exterior shapes. Layouts that don't match the exterior style. Beyond that, they just look _wrong._ There's something almost unstable about them, as though they can (and will) change at any point.

The entire place is like this, they realize as they stop focusing on just the buildings. The sky is day and dusk and night all at once. The ground is solid and crumbling and also not truly _ground_.

STEM is wrong, and they're standing right in the middle of it.


End file.
